Cold War: Before The Bell

Chapter 6

January, 1969
Perseus Base
Moscow, USSR

"He's no good to us!" Petrenko snapped.

"Then make him good! Or I can easily find someone who can." Perseus stood to his feet from his seat and faced the shorter man. "Because someone like him... rare to come by." He lowered his tone.

"Just because he's Alistairs kid doesn't mean he's more valuable than anyone of those other soldiers out there!" Pentrenko pointed towards the other side of the metal door where Stitch waited patiently as he was told to do so.

"No, but its because that he is a direct descendent from Alistair is exactly why I want him to be our number one, our best. We still have no idea what Alistair would have seen when he entered that "purple realm" as he described it. He talked about it very little, but we both know how much it changed him, not just mentally, but physically. So yes, Comrade Pentrenko, in some ways he is a bit more important than some of our others but thats why we will make sure he earns it all." He handed Pentrenko a file. "Get to work, he should be here soon." Perseus opened the door to let Stitch in as he spoke to the two.

Christmas had come and gone. Snow was still around, which was a site for some. Others hated it. But nobody enjoyed how much colder the temperatures got. If they were lucky, mother nature would bump it up a degree or two above the negatives.

On one fortunate day Anthony was able to skip the harsh conditions outside.

"Come on." Two soldiers came to escort him indoors.

"Whats happening?" Anthony asked, nervous as he looked over his shoulder to see his fellow comrades continue with their training.

"Relax comrade, just a field trip." One of them said, grabbing a firm hold around his arm as the other did the same.

"Get the door." One of them said to the other after making their way inside and down a few floors. The door opened, allowing the site of a rundown room appear. There was one dangaling light in the middle. A few holes in the walls exposed a few planks of wood. At least the room was built enough to protect from outside conditions, mostly. It still felt quite cold.

He was shoved into the room and the door slammed shut. His stomach slammed agianst the metal table above the light, preventing him from falling on his face. Before he could stand all the way back up he heard footsteps come from the corner of the room. He turned around to see Stitch as he placed a threatening grip around his throat. With his skull being pressed into the table, he could slowly feel his lungs burning. Trying to straighten his stance up only made things worse, causing Stitch to meet his torso with a powerful hammer fist. He was stuck.

"Release him." Pentrenko said through the comms in Stitch's headset. Anthony could hear slight muffles from the headset, unable to make out the words.

He fell to his knees gasping for air. Only then did he observe the mirror oddly placed on the wall. Before he could speak there was a heavy sharp pain on the side of his head. Then there was black.

When he awakened, he was sat at the table, his hands and feet bound to the metal chair. His head was killing him, he assumed he most likely had a concussion of some sort.

"Your.. Stitch?" He asked, lifting his head off the table and looking across. The man had no sleeves, or any hair ontop of his head. He was dressed in a black vest, tatoos on his arms. One of which were of tally marks, interesting.

"Correct." The man replied, his arms crossed.

"Please, just let me out of here so I can get back to training." Anthony sighed.

"This is training. You will be stuck here for a few days so get comfortable."

"Stuck? Here? For how long?!"

"Don't worry about that, but know that you are being watched. Every little thing you do in this room will matter, so whatever you do I suggest you don't give in."

He looked around the room, panick begining to set in. "This is interrogation, isn't it?" He asked, trying to move, not having even reaize he was restrained.

"Yes. So like I said before don't give in."

"Right. Yeah." He said neevously, mainly to himself. "So where do we beg-"

"What is your name!" Stitch striker him across the face with his fist.

"Anth- Anatolli!" He studdered, trying to correct himself.

"Lies!" Stitch slammed his face into the table before he sprung back up.

Question after question was thrown into his direction. He would never fully answer the question rather he would halfway answer it.

"Your the orphan child of that family who was killed before their house burnt down, arn't you?" Stitch grabbed the back of his head to look him face to face.

"You know about that?" Anthony began to grow irritaed about the sensitive topic.

"Who doesn't. Word has it that not all of the died. You must have had a sib-"

"Don't talk about my sister!" Anthony shouted, clearly Stitch had hit a nerve.

"Sister... so. You have a sister." He chuckled. "Elena is alive Petrov. Tell me what happened that night and I'll see to it that you see each other once more." He said it more as a suggestion.

He didn't say anything, just sat there fuming, avoiding his gaze and keeping his focus on the light above his head.

"Release him." Pentrenko said into Stitch's ear.

The man complied and released him to remove the restraints from his hands and feet. Anthony jumped up immidiatly and pulled him close enough to grab his gun and shoot the metal rod holding up the dangaling light. It crashed onto Stitch's head, causing blood to leak out.

Too livid to really think he aimed the gun at the bigger man and pulled the trigger.

"Only had one in the chamber." The bald man smiled underneath his mask as the younger man looked at the pistol and tossed it aside.

The two charged one another and began to fight back and forth. Having been training for a little over a month he, nor had anyone else realised how much he had improved.

"What did I tell you comrade?" Perseus stood beside Pentrenko, looking through the mirror, watching as the two fought.

"He is interesting.." Pentrenko placed a hand at his chin.

"It seems your training is paying off." Perseus smiled, pleased to see progress.

"Then we need to train him even harder. Because he could do us much good with behavior like this."

Ah, yes of course. But we must make sure it can be kept under control. How embarrasing would it be to have one of your men lash out against superiors." He watched as Anthony managed to use the reatraints on his chair to try and choke Stitch.

"As long as there is a motive for him, he might turn out to something other than a weak, puny lab boy."

"I'v already taken care of that. All he needs now is a reminder here and there."